Played some 2/5 last night at the Rock. Didn't go all that well, but it could have been worse. I made plenty of mistakes. Some were freaking terrible, honestly.
I started out in the must move game, which was 4 handed. In one hand, it folded to me in the small blind with AKs and raised to 15. The big blind called. Flop was J-10-8. I bet 20. He raised to 55. I called. Turn was an ace. I checked, he checked. River was a 7. I bet $60. He says, "Do you have K-Q?" and called. I flip up my A-K, he has J-9 for the straight. :P A queen would have been a nice card on the turn. Oh well.
In that hand, I called the flop bet just because it's 4 handed. I figure I have 2 overs and a gutshot, and it's 4 handed, so I call. Is that a good idea, I don't know. I think I can probably tighten up a bit in these spots until I know that someone is CONSTANTLY raising me out of pots and might be raising me light. I had no reason to think this guy was raising me light here. And as far as odds, there was 30 + 40 + 35 = 105 in the pot and I had to call 35. So I'm getting exactly 3:1 odds. If I think all of my outs are good I have 10 outs, so I'm getting 4:1 odds and with implied odds I'm definitely cool to call there.
And of course, BET THE TURN. OMG. What a huge mistake. Sure, I would have gotten called and lost a much bigger pot, but still. Bet the turn. Bet/fold.
Actually, that's something that I have messed up a couple times lately. Where I know I'm behind, and when the next card gives me a very good but non-nut hand, I don't bet out. I just check/call. This happened to me at Bellagio the other week. I had A-K and I was out of position, flopped an ace, and I was worried the guy had a better hand so I think I just called a bet on the turn. Then on the river a king came off, giving me top two. I should have bet/folded the river, but I checked and it went check-check. This is another similar situation, I probably turned the best hand and I gave him a free card.
Then I ran another bluff that didn't work. This one was one where I just went with my read, but my read was bad. So I don't really blame myself too much for this one. We were 3 handed and I raised with K-7 of diamonds. Guy called me out of the blind. Flop came Q-8-8 with 1 diamond. He checked to me and I bet 30. He check-raised 60 more. I thought about it and I didn't think he looked very strong. So I ended up raising him 125 more on top of that. He went all-in, I folded. Maybe it was a bit spewy for sure, as I had no draw and I was just raising him because I thought he looked weak. But really, the guy check-raised me on the flop, what do I think, he's check-raise bluffing me? Pretty unlikely. Especially with zero draws out there. So I'm not super upset about it, but I could have picked a better spot. Sure, if he had like 4-4 he would have folded. Or maybe 10-10. But whatever, just a bad move.
Then, I had some really big hands that I got ZERO money on. It was pretty frustrating.
This one is so bad I don't even want to write about it. I was at the main game and raised under the gun to $15 with 10-9 diamonds. 3 callers. I had been playing a ton of pots and went up and down a lot so I felt like I looked like I was playing pretty reckless. Flop comes just sick. 3 10s. I flop quads. I bet $20. 3 folds. ARRRGHHHHHHHHH
Was this bad, I don't know. I figure I'm going to cbet there a ton of the time anyway, and since I had been playing SO many hands before that, it was reasonable to bet out. But realistically I guess I should have just checked, hope an ace peels off on the turn. And if I was in position, maybe that's a better place to bet small. But I did raise under the gun, and now I'm betting out, so an overpair has to be in peoples' minds. Or at least a pair. I mean, I'm sure nobody had a pair there or they would have called me. Maybe I couldn't have gotten much more, but it was pretty frustrating to let that one slip away.
Then in another hand (against same guy I ran the bluff against) I called a raise out of the blind with 9-9. Flop came 9-4-3. There were 4 people in. I checked, next guy checks, he bet $55. Next guy folds, and I check-raised to $160. He folded. I thought this was OK because I had been playing pretty aggressive and had that big hand against him earlier, so I thought he might call. But realistically I look super strong there especially with multiple people in the pot. I should have either lead out on the flop or probably better, just call the flop and lead the turn for $75 or $100. Oh well though. That sucked.
Another one where I fucked up a bit - I was going crazy and I raised with 4-2 suited. Really bad timing too because I literally just raised the last 4 hands. As I was putting the chips out I was like "this is a bad idea" in my head, but I did it. Whatever. Flop came literally the only flop you are hoping for when raising with 4-2. It came A-5-3 with 2 hearts. Checked to me, I bet 25. One caller. Turn, offsuit 10. I bet $75, he calls. River, offsuit 6. I bet $225, he folds. My river bet was too big. Maybe he was just calling me with a flush draw, in which case it didn't matter. I was hoping since I was going so crazy in other pots that if he had A-10 or A-6 he would call the bet. But I probably could have been more successful if I bet like $130, then it might have been hard for him to fold any ace.
Last hand - another example of me putting too much in with a draw. I limp with 7-5 suited. Flop comes J-6-4. Checks to me, I bet 20. Guy calls, and this tight old guy makes it $60. Fine, I call. I don't even mind really because I have the draw and at least he probably has a strong hand. The other guy called too. Turn was a king. First guy checks, now the old guy bets $150. Sigh. I'm thinking about it and I'm putting him on a set. I was playing somewhat deep, probably started the hand with around $900 and he had me covered. So if I did hit the straight I felt like I could get paid huge. So I called. I was only getting like 2:1 I think. Let's say there was 25 in preflop, 180 on the flop, now 150. So I had to call 150 to win 355. 2.3:1 or so. For an open ender I have 8 outs, about 16% to win, so I need like 5:1. I figured it was worth it and called. River was a queen and he checked. I thought about betting but knew he was check-calling, so I checked. He had pocket aces. This actually sucked for me because I don't think I was getting the odds I needed at all to draw. He may have check-folded the river to a decent bet anyway. Not sure. If the river came a 3 and he bet, I think he would be hard pressed to not call my shove. And if he checked hopefully I would have bet like 300. If I bet like 400 or shoved he would have folded with A-A. Since I put him on a set I gave myself much better implied odds than what I actually had.
So I ended up losing $170 last night. Not the end of the world. I think I'm going to play some lower limit poker the next few days, I'll be hanging out with my wife and playing some 1/2 most likely. :-) Hopefully I can crush the game, I just need to ease up on the bluffing and value bet like crazy.
Thursday, July 12, 2012
Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Watch your back
I might just write about this one hand today. Let me just write about how this went down first and talk about it after.
Red Rock 2/5 NL. I limp for $10 with 7-6 of hearts (there was a straddle). The big blind makes it $50 to go. 2 people call, and I call.
Flop is K-5-2 with the 5 of hearts. It checks around. The turn is a 4. Checks around again. The river is my money card - the 3. So I have the nuts.
So the river comes out and one guy bets $80. I raise to $300. He goes all-in for a bit more, I call. We chop the pot.
Not a very interesting hand (and definitely disappointing for me). But here's how the betting and physical actions went down on the river. He bets $80. I raise to $300 by throwing 3 bills out (I had 5 bills in front of me). The dealer pulls in the $80, leaving 2 bills and 5 red chips in front of me. Now the guy says all-in. I put out a small stack and say call. We show our hands. I take my $220 back. Now the dealer said something about "I need to give him $200 out of the pot first" just thinking out loud, and I think he gave the other guy $200 or $220 to account for the $220 I just pulled back. Then he chopped the rest.
So I was a bit shell-shocked because it definitely hurts when you are already down, you river the nuts, and end up chopping. I wasn't paying close enough attention. So I stack all of my chips, look down, and see that I have 4 bills. And not a lot more chips. And then it hits me - I had 5 bills before. Now I only have 4. And I have about the same chips as before. I should have the same bills and a little more chips, or 1 less bill and a lot more chips. I had lost a bunch before this point so I started the hand with 5 bills and maybe $170 in red (had to put a bunch of bills on the table). Now I have 4 bills and $200 red.
The chips are already in my stack and his stack. At this point I realize that I have no recourse. The next hand is already going. The cards are out and there's no way to prove anything. I guess I could have thrown up a hail mary and said I got shorted, and just hope that they get someone in the back to review the hand on camera and pay me back. I decided not to say anything. I think that expecting that they are actually going to run the tapes back or whatever to find out about $100 is super unlikely. The biggest thing is that I didn't want to call it out, have everyone know I lost that $100, and now everyone is talking about it all night and I'm just on SUPER tilt. I was already tilting hard because of the hand. If it was public knowledge and people were just sitting there laughing about it and talking about it, you made the nuts and still lost $60 or whatever, I don't know that I could really deal with that. I just thought it would be a better idea to cut my losses, act like it didn't happen, and try to move on.
Mentally it was incredibly hard. Sure, it's only $100. I bluffed away $350 earlier in the day (fucking STUPID by the way) so this pales in comparison, as far as the amount. But still, the fact that the dealer caused me to lose it instead of a bad decision on my part was really fucking with my mind.
At that point I'm in damage control mode. I know I'm on tilt. I can feel my temperature going through the roof. I know I have to keep it under control because I'm going to be more likely to make some bad decisions. I should have walked it off but I just stayed at the table.
Overall it didn't screw me too bad. I had like zero hands after that to play, so I basically sat there pissed off for another 1.5 hours and left. I think the lesson to learn though is that you really have to pay attention at all times because you never know when you are going to get screwed over by a bad dealer.
As far as the bad bluff, that hand was fucking atrocious. It went down like this:
Guy raises to $20. I call with A-8 suited. Already maybe a sketchy play, but I guess it's OK. Guy in the blind makes it $50. Raiser calls, and I call. I definitely don't love it but I tell myself I'm priced in, and I think that's reasonable.
Flop comes 6-3-2. It checks around. Turn is a 4. Now the preflop reraiser bets out $85.
I get it into my head that he probably has something like A-K. So I come up with this elaborate scheme to win the hand - I'm going to float the turn, and bet the river to get him to fold his A-K.
River comes another 4. He bets out $100. I raise to $260. He snap calls. He had K-K.
This hand was so fucking stupid. Calls preflop - fine. I kinda got screwed into calling the reraise and I'm in position, so whatever. As far as his bet on the turn, I should have just given up. But honestly I don't really hate the float THAT much if I honestly think he has A-K all the time. Of course, I made the classic mistake of wanting to find a reason to win the pot, and A-K was the only hand that you might reraise preflop with that I can beat here. In general people aren't reraising a ton preflop, and this guy also had to reraise out of the blind. And he didn't make it that much more. If I analyzed the preflop action a bit more I would have seen that he could easily have a big hand.
Why check the flop, who knows. I think that's kind of a weird play. The pot was already pretty big so maybe he thought a standard cbet wouldn't be called by much. But if someone had an overpair that would probably call at least one bet.
On the turn, his bet makes sense. He's like OK nobody bit on the flop, now I'm going to try to get some value. My float would have been better if I knew this is a guy that might bet ace high here, and also if I knew that he is a guy that can fold on the river if he didn't have much. I knew none of those things from this guy so it was moronic to try to steal the pot. Sure, it could have worked. But logically I had no reason to think that it would work other than "It's going to look strong if I call here, and I can probably steal on the river if he doesn't have much."
Then on the river, my biggest mistake ever. He bets out $100. I already thought I was going to try to take this away from an ace high type of hand. What ace high hand bets here again after betting the turn? And a super small bet? NONE!!! Fucking nothing. Especially that size. It's screaming this is a value bet. Sure, he might have something like 9-9 and might fold to a raise. But there is no way in hell that's an ace high bet. What I should have done if I chose to float was see that he bets the river and say, OK, fine, he has something. I fucked up and called incorrectly on the turn because he has something. So now I'm going to give up. But instead I decide to follow through with my bluff and he insta-calls me.
So, idiot play there. It's cool I'm playing around with those kind of things, and hopefully in the future I'll take some time to think through what the guy actually has, like replay the action in my head. And maybe when I decide to float there, I can think, what will I do if he bets out? What will I do if he checks? What will I do if he check-raises? That way I'm prepared.
Oh well. Shitty session, I lost $300 and I did not play that great. Basically just played bad in the hand above. It's OK though, I'll probably play more tonight. :-)
Red Rock 2/5 NL. I limp for $10 with 7-6 of hearts (there was a straddle). The big blind makes it $50 to go. 2 people call, and I call.
Flop is K-5-2 with the 5 of hearts. It checks around. The turn is a 4. Checks around again. The river is my money card - the 3. So I have the nuts.
So the river comes out and one guy bets $80. I raise to $300. He goes all-in for a bit more, I call. We chop the pot.
Not a very interesting hand (and definitely disappointing for me). But here's how the betting and physical actions went down on the river. He bets $80. I raise to $300 by throwing 3 bills out (I had 5 bills in front of me). The dealer pulls in the $80, leaving 2 bills and 5 red chips in front of me. Now the guy says all-in. I put out a small stack and say call. We show our hands. I take my $220 back. Now the dealer said something about "I need to give him $200 out of the pot first" just thinking out loud, and I think he gave the other guy $200 or $220 to account for the $220 I just pulled back. Then he chopped the rest.
So I was a bit shell-shocked because it definitely hurts when you are already down, you river the nuts, and end up chopping. I wasn't paying close enough attention. So I stack all of my chips, look down, and see that I have 4 bills. And not a lot more chips. And then it hits me - I had 5 bills before. Now I only have 4. And I have about the same chips as before. I should have the same bills and a little more chips, or 1 less bill and a lot more chips. I had lost a bunch before this point so I started the hand with 5 bills and maybe $170 in red (had to put a bunch of bills on the table). Now I have 4 bills and $200 red.
The chips are already in my stack and his stack. At this point I realize that I have no recourse. The next hand is already going. The cards are out and there's no way to prove anything. I guess I could have thrown up a hail mary and said I got shorted, and just hope that they get someone in the back to review the hand on camera and pay me back. I decided not to say anything. I think that expecting that they are actually going to run the tapes back or whatever to find out about $100 is super unlikely. The biggest thing is that I didn't want to call it out, have everyone know I lost that $100, and now everyone is talking about it all night and I'm just on SUPER tilt. I was already tilting hard because of the hand. If it was public knowledge and people were just sitting there laughing about it and talking about it, you made the nuts and still lost $60 or whatever, I don't know that I could really deal with that. I just thought it would be a better idea to cut my losses, act like it didn't happen, and try to move on.
Mentally it was incredibly hard. Sure, it's only $100. I bluffed away $350 earlier in the day (fucking STUPID by the way) so this pales in comparison, as far as the amount. But still, the fact that the dealer caused me to lose it instead of a bad decision on my part was really fucking with my mind.
At that point I'm in damage control mode. I know I'm on tilt. I can feel my temperature going through the roof. I know I have to keep it under control because I'm going to be more likely to make some bad decisions. I should have walked it off but I just stayed at the table.
Overall it didn't screw me too bad. I had like zero hands after that to play, so I basically sat there pissed off for another 1.5 hours and left. I think the lesson to learn though is that you really have to pay attention at all times because you never know when you are going to get screwed over by a bad dealer.
As far as the bad bluff, that hand was fucking atrocious. It went down like this:
Guy raises to $20. I call with A-8 suited. Already maybe a sketchy play, but I guess it's OK. Guy in the blind makes it $50. Raiser calls, and I call. I definitely don't love it but I tell myself I'm priced in, and I think that's reasonable.
Flop comes 6-3-2. It checks around. Turn is a 4. Now the preflop reraiser bets out $85.
I get it into my head that he probably has something like A-K. So I come up with this elaborate scheme to win the hand - I'm going to float the turn, and bet the river to get him to fold his A-K.
River comes another 4. He bets out $100. I raise to $260. He snap calls. He had K-K.
This hand was so fucking stupid. Calls preflop - fine. I kinda got screwed into calling the reraise and I'm in position, so whatever. As far as his bet on the turn, I should have just given up. But honestly I don't really hate the float THAT much if I honestly think he has A-K all the time. Of course, I made the classic mistake of wanting to find a reason to win the pot, and A-K was the only hand that you might reraise preflop with that I can beat here. In general people aren't reraising a ton preflop, and this guy also had to reraise out of the blind. And he didn't make it that much more. If I analyzed the preflop action a bit more I would have seen that he could easily have a big hand.
Why check the flop, who knows. I think that's kind of a weird play. The pot was already pretty big so maybe he thought a standard cbet wouldn't be called by much. But if someone had an overpair that would probably call at least one bet.
On the turn, his bet makes sense. He's like OK nobody bit on the flop, now I'm going to try to get some value. My float would have been better if I knew this is a guy that might bet ace high here, and also if I knew that he is a guy that can fold on the river if he didn't have much. I knew none of those things from this guy so it was moronic to try to steal the pot. Sure, it could have worked. But logically I had no reason to think that it would work other than "It's going to look strong if I call here, and I can probably steal on the river if he doesn't have much."
Then on the river, my biggest mistake ever. He bets out $100. I already thought I was going to try to take this away from an ace high type of hand. What ace high hand bets here again after betting the turn? And a super small bet? NONE!!! Fucking nothing. Especially that size. It's screaming this is a value bet. Sure, he might have something like 9-9 and might fold to a raise. But there is no way in hell that's an ace high bet. What I should have done if I chose to float was see that he bets the river and say, OK, fine, he has something. I fucked up and called incorrectly on the turn because he has something. So now I'm going to give up. But instead I decide to follow through with my bluff and he insta-calls me.
So, idiot play there. It's cool I'm playing around with those kind of things, and hopefully in the future I'll take some time to think through what the guy actually has, like replay the action in my head. And maybe when I decide to float there, I can think, what will I do if he bets out? What will I do if he checks? What will I do if he check-raises? That way I'm prepared.
Oh well. Shitty session, I lost $300 and I did not play that great. Basically just played bad in the hand above. It's OK though, I'll probably play more tonight. :-)
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Red Rock Monday
Went up to the Rock last night just for a couple hours. Played in the must-move game for about 40 minutes. It was SUPER shorthanded.
I don't feel super comfortable in that type of situation today. I feel like I don't pick my spots exceptionally well and have a tendency to spew off chips. It's fun playing and getting more experience though. I know as I move higher and higher in stakes, I'm going to have to play more shorthanded. It's just a fact of life. Might as well get that experience now, as opposed to when I'm playing 5/10 or 10/20 NL and it costs exponentially more, and I'm also playing against more competent opponents.
Played a couple somewhat interesting hands. In one, we were 4 handed and I min-raise opened from the small blind with K-4 offsuit. The big blind called. By the way, I don't generally min-raise, I was just trying it out. The flop comes A-K-3. I bet 10, he points to the 3 and calls. He said something preflop about how he was going to need a special flop or whatever, basically just announcing that he had a garbage hand, and I totally believed him. So I didn't put him on an ace and thought I was very likely good at this stage. Turn was a 10. I checked and he checked. River was a 9. I bet 20. He said something like "I think I got you now" or whatever and min-raised me to 40. He's now obviously trying to say "I have 9-3". However, I felt like it's heads up and I can't really fold to a min-raise on the river here with such a monster hand as K-4 offsuit. :-) So I called, and he had 8-3 (just the 3).
Later I raised on the button (again 4 handed) with A-2 suited, to $20. 2 callers. Flop came 10-5-5. Now this guy leads out into me for $30 (blue shirt in the picture above). I felt like this guy had been betting out on too many flops and I thought he probably didn't have a 5. I had backdoor diamonds and a backdoor straight draw too. So I made it 75. He thought about it and asked if I had an overpair, and eventually folded Q-10 face up. Whoops. Bad play on my part, lol. I reassured him when he asked me about it later that I had pocket queens.
Playing between 3 and 4 handed for a while, eventually the must move game broke. I got in the main game shortly after though. Few fun hands there too.
Raise KJ to 15. 3 callers. Flop Q-9-9. Checks to me and I have 1 person behind me. I bet 25. 2 folds and a call. Turn is a queen. He checks, I check. River is an ace. Check, check. He had 6-6 and we chop. I have been torn on this one, whether or not to bet the turn or river. But I think that if he had 9-x he probably would have played it the same way. And I'm not getting anyone smart to lay down to a tiny bet on the river. Maybe a big bet, but I don't want to risk that much either. So I guess it's fine to just check the turn and river here.
Guy raises to $15. I call with J-8 suited. See the flop 4 way and it's Q-Q-8. He bets out 20, I raise it to 60, he folds (as do the others) and I win. Overall this was probably just a risky spot to be in and folding preflop was probably the best option. Or reraising, but basically just fold. Raising the flop only gets worse hands to fold. I guess protecting my hand has some benefit here, but overall I think there's just a lot of risk there as well and I could just avoid that spot altogether.
I think in general over the last week since I've gotten in a lot of weird spots, ran some bad bluffs, and lost a lot of money on draws, I am seeing the value in tightening up a little bit. I don't want to be a nit but I just need to be in position basically all the time, and pick my spots a bit better. I guess in position I don't mind going a little crazier. But in the last hand, I have 2 people behind me. Who's to say one of them doesn't have Q-10? Then I just totally threw away $60. Granted by raising I'll be able to know about it right away and shut down which is nice, but it would be great to save the $60 altogether.
Interesting hand vs the guy I like to think of as the Governator (pictured). I raise with 4-2 suited in late position to $15. He calls from the big blind. Flop comes Q-9-2 with 2 diamonds. He checks, I bet $15, he calls. Turn is the 9 of diamonds. He checks, I check. River is an offsuit 7. He bets $25. I think about it and call. He has the 2-5 offsuit and we chop.
On that hand, the turn was pretty scary. But if I'm going to call a river bet, I really should be betting out $20 or $25 on the turn and bet-folding. On the end there's just no way to tell if he has anything and if I think he can be bluffing I just have to call, which is a bad spot. I should have put myself in the driver's seat by betting the turn IF I was going to call the river. Either that or just give up on the turn and fold the river when he bets.
Then, a couple bigger hands. In one, I raise the button with 8-8 to $20. Get 2 callers. Flop 6-6-2. Now a guy (blue shirt from pic above) bets all of his red chips, $100. He has a $100 bill behind. Super overbet. Guy folds and it's on me. I decided that he didn't necessarily have to have a 6 here or even a big overpair, so I just pushed him all-in. He called. Turns out he had 4-4. So I won a big pot with that. Kinda risky but I had seen him do some similar things earlier and I didn't think he was a good player, so I risked it.
In another hand I got a sick flop. I call in a straddled pot with 10-9 suited. Flop comes Q-J-4 with the Q-J of my suit. Sick. I bet out $25 into like 5 people, get 2 callers. Turn is an offsuit ace. First guy checks to me and I bet $80. Not the best card, but I figure it's an OK bluffing card and at least I probably won't get raised off of this too often (unless someone has K-10, but I have a blocker). Guy folds, now the first guy goes all-in (essentially calls all-in, he had like $83). He shouts that he wants a diamond, and I'm scared that he has bigger diamonds. River is an offsuit 9. He had the 5-4 of diamonds so I was way ahead and won a decent pot there.
Overall I ended up playing for just over 2 hours and won almost $600! Really great session and a good confidence booster after a bad weekend of poker. Excited for my next session. :-)
I don't feel super comfortable in that type of situation today. I feel like I don't pick my spots exceptionally well and have a tendency to spew off chips. It's fun playing and getting more experience though. I know as I move higher and higher in stakes, I'm going to have to play more shorthanded. It's just a fact of life. Might as well get that experience now, as opposed to when I'm playing 5/10 or 10/20 NL and it costs exponentially more, and I'm also playing against more competent opponents.
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| 4 handed 2/5 NL at Red Rock - must move game |
Later I raised on the button (again 4 handed) with A-2 suited, to $20. 2 callers. Flop came 10-5-5. Now this guy leads out into me for $30 (blue shirt in the picture above). I felt like this guy had been betting out on too many flops and I thought he probably didn't have a 5. I had backdoor diamonds and a backdoor straight draw too. So I made it 75. He thought about it and asked if I had an overpair, and eventually folded Q-10 face up. Whoops. Bad play on my part, lol. I reassured him when he asked me about it later that I had pocket queens.
Playing between 3 and 4 handed for a while, eventually the must move game broke. I got in the main game shortly after though. Few fun hands there too.
Raise KJ to 15. 3 callers. Flop Q-9-9. Checks to me and I have 1 person behind me. I bet 25. 2 folds and a call. Turn is a queen. He checks, I check. River is an ace. Check, check. He had 6-6 and we chop. I have been torn on this one, whether or not to bet the turn or river. But I think that if he had 9-x he probably would have played it the same way. And I'm not getting anyone smart to lay down to a tiny bet on the river. Maybe a big bet, but I don't want to risk that much either. So I guess it's fine to just check the turn and river here.
Guy raises to $15. I call with J-8 suited. See the flop 4 way and it's Q-Q-8. He bets out 20, I raise it to 60, he folds (as do the others) and I win. Overall this was probably just a risky spot to be in and folding preflop was probably the best option. Or reraising, but basically just fold. Raising the flop only gets worse hands to fold. I guess protecting my hand has some benefit here, but overall I think there's just a lot of risk there as well and I could just avoid that spot altogether.
I think in general over the last week since I've gotten in a lot of weird spots, ran some bad bluffs, and lost a lot of money on draws, I am seeing the value in tightening up a little bit. I don't want to be a nit but I just need to be in position basically all the time, and pick my spots a bit better. I guess in position I don't mind going a little crazier. But in the last hand, I have 2 people behind me. Who's to say one of them doesn't have Q-10? Then I just totally threw away $60. Granted by raising I'll be able to know about it right away and shut down which is nice, but it would be great to save the $60 altogether.
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| The Governator |
On that hand, the turn was pretty scary. But if I'm going to call a river bet, I really should be betting out $20 or $25 on the turn and bet-folding. On the end there's just no way to tell if he has anything and if I think he can be bluffing I just have to call, which is a bad spot. I should have put myself in the driver's seat by betting the turn IF I was going to call the river. Either that or just give up on the turn and fold the river when he bets.
Then, a couple bigger hands. In one, I raise the button with 8-8 to $20. Get 2 callers. Flop 6-6-2. Now a guy (blue shirt from pic above) bets all of his red chips, $100. He has a $100 bill behind. Super overbet. Guy folds and it's on me. I decided that he didn't necessarily have to have a 6 here or even a big overpair, so I just pushed him all-in. He called. Turns out he had 4-4. So I won a big pot with that. Kinda risky but I had seen him do some similar things earlier and I didn't think he was a good player, so I risked it.
In another hand I got a sick flop. I call in a straddled pot with 10-9 suited. Flop comes Q-J-4 with the Q-J of my suit. Sick. I bet out $25 into like 5 people, get 2 callers. Turn is an offsuit ace. First guy checks to me and I bet $80. Not the best card, but I figure it's an OK bluffing card and at least I probably won't get raised off of this too often (unless someone has K-10, but I have a blocker). Guy folds, now the first guy goes all-in (essentially calls all-in, he had like $83). He shouts that he wants a diamond, and I'm scared that he has bigger diamonds. River is an offsuit 9. He had the 5-4 of diamonds so I was way ahead and won a decent pot there.
Overall I ended up playing for just over 2 hours and won almost $600! Really great session and a good confidence booster after a bad weekend of poker. Excited for my next session. :-)
Monday, July 9, 2012
Bad week
Two weeks ago I had one of the best weeks I probably have ever had at the poker table. This last week was a bad one. I got a little unlucky here and there, but overall I think some of the play that got me rich last week was also the reason that I lost this week.
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| Dealer picking his teeth with his card - gross |
Hand 1: I just sat down, it was literally my first hand at Red Rock in the 2/5 NL game. I have 500 and I'm in the big blind. About 5 people limp. I have AQs. I raise to 35 total. Bigger raise than I'd normally make, and I'm just hoping everyone folds or I can play it heads up. 2 people call. Flop comes 8-3-3 with 1 of my suit. I am not yet ready to give this pot up, so I bet $60. 1 caller. Turn, 7 of my suit. Now I pick up the flush draw, so I fire another barrel - $130. He calls. River, 3. At this point I felt like I've been repping a big hand the whole way, and another big bet will have to scream JJ+ for the boat. So I go all-in for $285 or whatever was left. He thinks for a while and calls. He had 10-8.
There were a few things wrong with this hand. I'm fine with the flop bet and the turn bet. On the river, I know he has a full house. I didn't even try to talk myself into thinking he didn't. So then when I go to bet, I don't even take into account who the guy is and if he can fold. Looking at him after the hand, he's some middle aged guy with a ton of money in front of him and some local golf club gear on. Probably some kinda rich guy that typically is going to be a calling station. So it was just a bad bet on the river.
Second, I have told myself several times - don't bluff in the first half hour or so at the table. I've dumped off so much money lately when I sit down and instantly am running some big bluff. It makes no sense. Sit down, see who the players are, get a feel for the table, then you can start playing. So that was another mistake.
Another problem I've had lately is overplaying my draws. In every possible way. Calling without good enough odds, as well as just sort of blindly raising people with draws. I guess the raising part is OK as long as I'm making sure I'm against a person that is capable of folding, but I played a couple hands yesterday where I didn't take that into account at all. Then I also had some hands where I just put WAY too much money in with draws.
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| This is me getting even after 100 rebuys |
I think if I focus on only calling with my best draws I'd be a lot better off. For example I had this hand at Bellagio the other day in the 2/5 game. I raise with 9-9 to 15. Guy makes it 35. I call. Flop is 10-8-7. I check, he bets 60. I thought about raising, but I KNEW he had an overpair so if I raised I was just basically getting it in for no reason. So I call. At that point there's like 135 in the pot and I'm calling 60, so I'm getting just 2.25 to 1 odds. With 10 outs and 1 card to come, I need like 4:1 odds to break even. Am I getting implied odds? I don't know. I'm out of position so that makes it hard. Hell if I hit a 9, he might have J-J in which case I'm dead also. Overall it is probably just a bad call. So I call, then on the turn I miss and he bets out 120. Now there's like 315 in the pot, giving me 2.5:1 odds or so. He has about $160 left. I figure if I hit at this point he basically has to call because he's pot committed, but that might not even be accurate because it really looks like I have the draw if I call. I called again, and missed. But I think both on the flop and turn I really just wasn't getting a good price. Especially if you consider that I'm out of position, this is just not good play.
I've had a TON of draws not hit this week. It's been frustrating. Big flush draws SO many times, straight draws, and sometimes I'm raising them in position setting myself up to win a giant pot if I do hit. So I feel like I'm getting slightly unlucky not drawing out in some of these monster pots. But regardless, I'm playing too many draws. And also I got SO lucky last week in some monster pots that I really can't complain about this week's luck.
I'm looking forward to playing some more. It's frustrating when you don't win, and when you make mistakes that you regret later. But it's all part of the game I suppose.
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Always playing your best
Last night I played at Red Rock (1/2 NL). I had some fun at first, but overall I ended up not having that much fun. The reason is not because the game was bad or because I got unlucky. The reason is because I played terrible, I knew I was playing terrible, and I ended up losing a lot because of it.
The hands really aren't even worth discussing. Just overall really bad decisions. I raise to 7, lady reraises to 35, guy calls, I call with 9-9. That's just too much to call unless I know for sure she is a complete moron that is going to stack off 100% of the time. Or another hand where I decide to 3 barrel bluff with A-J, no pair, after I bet the 10 high flop, bet again on the K turn, and bet again on the heart river. Really it might not have been so bad if I had ANY reason to think this guy could fold, but I definitely didn't think he was a good player or anything. I just blindly dumped off $150 on that hand for no reason. Countless other really bad decisions, limping or raising with any 2 cards (including 7-2 offsuit multiple times), etc.
I've been playing 2/5 exclusively over the last couple weeks, and I've been running really good. So yesterday I played 1/2 with my wife and I thought I'd just "have fun" and play stupid. But you know what is fun, winning money. :P Just because I'm playing at lower stakes, there's no reason why I can't have fun by just playing my best and taking advantage of how people will generally be playing worse than at my normal stakes. And I can make moves, just like I do at my usual game, but I need to pick my spots. If I want to do anything that is a little risky, value betting thinner than normal is what I should be doing instead of bluffing. Obviously bluffing the worst players possible is not a great idea because they will continue to call you.
This isn't a new lesson for me or anything, but last night just made me think that I need to be smarter about those situations. I ended up losing $350. That is ridiculous. For the hands I had, I should have only played a handful of times, and out of those maybe I could have lost $100 max. I really didn't have that many playable hands. Sure, it would have been somewhat boring. But just hanging out with my wife, seeing her play well, and trying to read the other players when I'm paying attention should be enough fun for me.
Just something to think about as I continue to play. There is nothing but good that can come out of playing my very best 100% of the time.
The hands really aren't even worth discussing. Just overall really bad decisions. I raise to 7, lady reraises to 35, guy calls, I call with 9-9. That's just too much to call unless I know for sure she is a complete moron that is going to stack off 100% of the time. Or another hand where I decide to 3 barrel bluff with A-J, no pair, after I bet the 10 high flop, bet again on the K turn, and bet again on the heart river. Really it might not have been so bad if I had ANY reason to think this guy could fold, but I definitely didn't think he was a good player or anything. I just blindly dumped off $150 on that hand for no reason. Countless other really bad decisions, limping or raising with any 2 cards (including 7-2 offsuit multiple times), etc.
I've been playing 2/5 exclusively over the last couple weeks, and I've been running really good. So yesterday I played 1/2 with my wife and I thought I'd just "have fun" and play stupid. But you know what is fun, winning money. :P Just because I'm playing at lower stakes, there's no reason why I can't have fun by just playing my best and taking advantage of how people will generally be playing worse than at my normal stakes. And I can make moves, just like I do at my usual game, but I need to pick my spots. If I want to do anything that is a little risky, value betting thinner than normal is what I should be doing instead of bluffing. Obviously bluffing the worst players possible is not a great idea because they will continue to call you.
This isn't a new lesson for me or anything, but last night just made me think that I need to be smarter about those situations. I ended up losing $350. That is ridiculous. For the hands I had, I should have only played a handful of times, and out of those maybe I could have lost $100 max. I really didn't have that many playable hands. Sure, it would have been somewhat boring. But just hanging out with my wife, seeing her play well, and trying to read the other players when I'm paying attention should be enough fun for me.
Just something to think about as I continue to play. There is nothing but good that can come out of playing my very best 100% of the time.
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Hit and run
Went up to Red Rock today for a super short session. Might have been a short session, but there was nothing short about the huge profit I made. Less than 3 hours, $800 extra in my pocket.
Few quick hands to tell you about. First, I'm sitting at 1/2 waiting for 2/5. I pick up pocket aces in early/middle position. 2 people limp for 2 bucks and I raise to 15. Get 3 callers. Flop comes K-x-x. I think there was a heart draw too. Guy leads out for 20. I raise to 55. He calls. Turn is a king. Really gross card. He checks to me. Now I'm thinking I basically have two options. One, check and call a river bet (as long as it's not too big). Or two, bet and fold to a raise. I decided to bet out. I know that on a turn card like that, I'm just going to lose some money sometimes and I'm not going to shy away from it. Betting out probably helps me lose the least because I can set the price. So I bet out $60. He folded. Sweet.
So I'm up $100 at 1/2 and I get called for 2/5. Right away, I get in another big pocket aces hand! I'm in the blind. Girl limps, small blind completes, I look down at two black aces. I raised to 25, they both call. Flop comes J-9-5, all clubs. I bet out 50, one girl calls. Turn is a blank. I bet out 80. Now she goes all-in for 220 more. I didn't really know what to do, but with the nut club draw and a reasonable hand besides, I didn't really see myself folding. So I called. River was a brick. I kinda just look at her like... well? I say I have a pair. She says she has a pair. So then I flip mine up and say, I have a big pair. :-) She mucks. Maybe she had an overpair, hard to say.
I honestly started to feel bad for this girl. She obviously should have stopped playing. She was on SUPER tilt. Every pot she played, she lost. I had a couple hands where I had small pairs and beat her. Like I raised with 4-4, checked to the river, she bets out a small bet ($20) on the river, I think for a bit and call, she paired up the deuce and lost. Or another hand where I had A7s, raised, missed the flop and bet (10 high flop), she called, turned a 7 and bet again, she called, river we both check and my 7 is good. No matter what, she lost.
This hand should illustrate how bad she went on tilt. She limps for $5. Some guy makes it $20. She goes all-in for $69 total. He calls. The cards run out and she obviously didn't hit anything. She's all talking to herself "I can't win this, blah blah blah" and just throws her cards into the muck????? Doesn't even show? Who knows what the other guy had? That was just insane. I mean yeah, you probably lost, but this guy simply called a short stack's all in preflop so there's no reason to think he has a pair or even high cards. It's likely that he does, but it's a $150 pot... I'll turn my hand up at least!
Later I played another hand against her. I have Q-3 suited in the blind and check. Flop comes 4-5-7 with 2 of my suit. It checks around. The turn is a 3. I bet out 10. The old guy next to me raises to 20. She calls 20, and I call the 10. The river is the 10 of my suit. I bet out $65. Old guy folds. She goes all-in for essentially a min-raise. I call. She has J-8 for the lower flush. Ouch.
I ended up winning $800. Just a totally sick session especially if you're only talking about playing for 3 hours. Insane. The sick run continues! Up $2400 in the last 4 days.
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| Kicking ass |
So I'm up $100 at 1/2 and I get called for 2/5. Right away, I get in another big pocket aces hand! I'm in the blind. Girl limps, small blind completes, I look down at two black aces. I raised to 25, they both call. Flop comes J-9-5, all clubs. I bet out 50, one girl calls. Turn is a blank. I bet out 80. Now she goes all-in for 220 more. I didn't really know what to do, but with the nut club draw and a reasonable hand besides, I didn't really see myself folding. So I called. River was a brick. I kinda just look at her like... well? I say I have a pair. She says she has a pair. So then I flip mine up and say, I have a big pair. :-) She mucks. Maybe she had an overpair, hard to say.
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| Mark of the beast |
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| Left - tilt girl |
Later I played another hand against her. I have Q-3 suited in the blind and check. Flop comes 4-5-7 with 2 of my suit. It checks around. The turn is a 3. I bet out 10. The old guy next to me raises to 20. She calls 20, and I call the 10. The river is the 10 of my suit. I bet out $65. Old guy folds. She goes all-in for essentially a min-raise. I call. She has J-8 for the lower flush. Ouch.
I ended up winning $800. Just a totally sick session especially if you're only talking about playing for 3 hours. Insane. The sick run continues! Up $2400 in the last 4 days.
Monday, July 2, 2012
Huge weekend, some sick suckouts
I had a great weekend of poker. Results-wise, anyway. Did I play well? Sometimes. I also made some questionable moves and got rewarded handsomely for those mistakes. :-)
I'll try to write this quick because I have some stuff to do at work. I'll just highlight a few of the big hands. These were all at 2/5 NL.
Call 10 more out of the blind from a middle aged lady on the button. I have 98s. Flop comes 8 high, I call a bet. Turn is an 8. I fire out 100, which was actually a really huge bet, probably more than the pot, so I'm not sure why I bet that much. She raises me to 300. I think it over in my head and really the only hand I can beat is something like pocket aces, but I honestly didn't think she would do that with pocket aces. So for basically no good reason at all, I end up moving all in on her. It was only 150 more for her to call (and I certainly wasn't expecting a fold) and she calls. She has 10-8 and the 10 will play. River... 9. SICK. 1k+ pot there. Such a bad move on my part.
Next, I'm at Red Rock 2/5 and have JTs. I raise in early position, get a couple callers. Flop is 9-8-4 with 2 spades (I don't have spades). I bet out 25. Another guy calls, and the next guy goes all-in for 60 total. I figure the other guy in the pot might be on a spade draw so I raise to isolate : 160 total. he calls. OK. Turn is an offsuit king. At this point I have 450 left and I decided to just push all-in to get him out of the pot and play for it heads up against the other guy. I go all-in, he calls me. GULP. Worse yet, he has basically the worst hand for me possible : K-3 of spades. So he hit a pair over my two cards, and he also kills 2 of my straight outs. River, offsuit queen. SICKKKKKKKK. Another insane pot. I don't think my move was all that bad in this one, but I did have to get incredibly lucky to win the pot.
Got all in preflop this weekend with AA vs KK and won, that's always nice. I was in the big blind and had just shown down a small bluff the hand before, not sure if that made any difference. But some guy made it 20, I raise to 75 with AA, he makes it 220, and I shove for 550. He thinks and says "I don't think I can fold the 2nd best hand preflop" and eventually calls, and doesn't hit. That feels awesome. :-)
Lost a couple decent size pots with AK. The first was stupid, the second was kinda standard I think. In the first I was at 1/2 at Venetian. I call a raise out of the blind with A-K. Flop comes A-Q-x. I check, preflop raiser bets 22, next guy raises to 45. I think about it a bit and decide I don't want to fold, so I reraise to 110. Preflop raiser folds, other guy goes all in for like 80 more, I call, he has pocket queens. I should have just folded to the 45.
The other AK hand, I reraise out of the blind at Red Rock 2/5 from 15 to 55. The original raiser folds, and a short stack calls. He has about 125 left. On the Q-x-x flop I just push all-in and he calls with Q-J and I don't improve. I think that's fine.
My best hand this weekend was with A-Q. A kid who looked like he was pretty good raised to 15 in early position. 1 other caller, and I reraised to 50. They both call. Flop comes A-6-5. Checks to me, and I check. I'm thinking, pot control, and also it might disguise my hand a bit. Turn comes a 4, and now the original preflop raiser bets out 120. I had seen him make some kinda big bets when he c-bet earlier, so the size didn't really bother me too much, and I figured he might try to pick it up thinking I have K-K or whatever. So I call. Now I think this basically turns my hand face up, letting him know I have an ace. However, I didn't really consider that he might still think I have K-K or Q-Q or whatever. River is a blank. Now he fires out 300.
Really big bet, and I didn't want to just throw the money away. There was like 390 in the pot and he's betting 300. And I felt like it was very obvious that I had an ace. I thought, if he did have something like a set or a straight, would he bet 300? Seems like too big of a bet to get me to call if I just have A-K or whatever. And I thought that he might have thought that if I did have A-K, he could probably push me off of the hand if he made such a big bet. So I took a long time and really thought about it, and decided to call. He had QTs - total bluff. And I won a sick pot.
Quick funny story. This guy (pictured left) sits down behind the button at Venetian. The dealer doesn't deal him in for some reason. So this guy starts going insane, "I'm going to file an incident report!!!!" He tries to stop the action and the dealer is like, uh, no. So he calls the floor over and eventually leaves the table, I think without even playing a hand. Maybe he did end up filing an incident report, whatever that means. What a freak of nature. Yeah, the dealer messed up. But who cares, it's one hand. Get over it!
I'll try to write this quick because I have some stuff to do at work. I'll just highlight a few of the big hands. These were all at 2/5 NL.
Call 10 more out of the blind from a middle aged lady on the button. I have 98s. Flop comes 8 high, I call a bet. Turn is an 8. I fire out 100, which was actually a really huge bet, probably more than the pot, so I'm not sure why I bet that much. She raises me to 300. I think it over in my head and really the only hand I can beat is something like pocket aces, but I honestly didn't think she would do that with pocket aces. So for basically no good reason at all, I end up moving all in on her. It was only 150 more for her to call (and I certainly wasn't expecting a fold) and she calls. She has 10-8 and the 10 will play. River... 9. SICK. 1k+ pot there. Such a bad move on my part.Next, I'm at Red Rock 2/5 and have JTs. I raise in early position, get a couple callers. Flop is 9-8-4 with 2 spades (I don't have spades). I bet out 25. Another guy calls, and the next guy goes all-in for 60 total. I figure the other guy in the pot might be on a spade draw so I raise to isolate : 160 total. he calls. OK. Turn is an offsuit king. At this point I have 450 left and I decided to just push all-in to get him out of the pot and play for it heads up against the other guy. I go all-in, he calls me. GULP. Worse yet, he has basically the worst hand for me possible : K-3 of spades. So he hit a pair over my two cards, and he also kills 2 of my straight outs. River, offsuit queen. SICKKKKKKKK. Another insane pot. I don't think my move was all that bad in this one, but I did have to get incredibly lucky to win the pot.
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| 2 stacks of green |
Lost a couple decent size pots with AK. The first was stupid, the second was kinda standard I think. In the first I was at 1/2 at Venetian. I call a raise out of the blind with A-K. Flop comes A-Q-x. I check, preflop raiser bets 22, next guy raises to 45. I think about it a bit and decide I don't want to fold, so I reraise to 110. Preflop raiser folds, other guy goes all in for like 80 more, I call, he has pocket queens. I should have just folded to the 45.
The other AK hand, I reraise out of the blind at Red Rock 2/5 from 15 to 55. The original raiser folds, and a short stack calls. He has about 125 left. On the Q-x-x flop I just push all-in and he calls with Q-J and I don't improve. I think that's fine.
My best hand this weekend was with A-Q. A kid who looked like he was pretty good raised to 15 in early position. 1 other caller, and I reraised to 50. They both call. Flop comes A-6-5. Checks to me, and I check. I'm thinking, pot control, and also it might disguise my hand a bit. Turn comes a 4, and now the original preflop raiser bets out 120. I had seen him make some kinda big bets when he c-bet earlier, so the size didn't really bother me too much, and I figured he might try to pick it up thinking I have K-K or whatever. So I call. Now I think this basically turns my hand face up, letting him know I have an ace. However, I didn't really consider that he might still think I have K-K or Q-Q or whatever. River is a blank. Now he fires out 300.
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| Mr. Incident Report |
Quick funny story. This guy (pictured left) sits down behind the button at Venetian. The dealer doesn't deal him in for some reason. So this guy starts going insane, "I'm going to file an incident report!!!!" He tries to stop the action and the dealer is like, uh, no. So he calls the floor over and eventually leaves the table, I think without even playing a hand. Maybe he did end up filing an incident report, whatever that means. What a freak of nature. Yeah, the dealer messed up. But who cares, it's one hand. Get over it!
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